EL SEGUNDO, Calif. May 2003 - International Rectifier, IR® (NYSE: IRF), today announces the IRMCS203 development system and the IRMCO203 Intellectual Property (IP) library of Motor Control algorithms. This development system and object code IP Library support the iMOTION™ Integrated Design Platform and are especially designed for applications such as high speed spindle motor control. Development time is drastically shortened from tens of weeks to just days.

The development system comes with proven analog and power stage hardware designs as well as the software needed to achieve a design flow that requires no coding to configure motor control algorithms. The digital control section uses IR's Accelerator™ configurable control engine system architecture using parallel processing and customizable peripherals. The analog section uses high voltage ICs (HVICs) for the gate drive and current sensing functions. The power stage is based on the latest non-punch-through (NPT) IGBT and PlugNDrive™ integrated power module technologies.

The IRMCO203 algorithm is a licensable object code IP library for sensor-less control of permanent magnet motors featuring high starting torque and smooth ramp-up. The IRMCO203 is targeted for low cost FPGA applications, eliminating the need for complicated programming processes.

Co-designing the analog and power stage hardware with IR's high voltage gate drive and current sense ICs enables fast parallel processing architecture. The sensor-less IRMCO203 enables high speed operation (demonstrated to over 100,000 rpm), wide speed range, high PWM carrier frequency (up to 50kHz) and fast computational update rate (up to 50kHz).

The software includes a Windows®-based configuration tool, ServoDesigner™, that is used to map the internal registers to configure motor type, motion peripherals, control mode, tune control parameters, and monitor and diagnose internal signal waveforms.

According to Toshio Takahashi, Director of IR's Digital Control IC, Consumer and Industrial Business Unit, "The Accelerator system architecture, in the form of a configurable DSP control engine with object code libraries, integrates with IR's proven analog and power stage hardware, simplifying design and maximizing performance."

Availability and Pricing

The IRMCS203 development system is available immediately with a unit price of US $2,500 that includes a 1.0kW servo amplifier hardware platform with pre-loaded code and ServoDesigner software.

The IRMCO203 Object Code for volume production using FPGA is available through licensing agreement. Other IP library materials are available and are described in the Accelerator Web site

About iMOTION™

International Rectifier's iMOTION™ integrated design platform comprises a development system and mixed-signal chip set, which when co-designed together simplify Motor Control designs and bring energy-efficient, cost-effective solutions to market faster. Visit the International Rectifier Web site at imotion.irf.com.

High Resolution JPEGs are available in the Press Room.